Andrei A. Orlov

The
Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary in the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob

Introduction

The book of Genesis portrays
Jacob as someone who not only saw God but also wrestled with Him. Jacob’s
visionary experiences begin in Genesis 28 where he sees in a dream the ladder on
which the angels of God are ascending and descending. Above the ladder Jacob
beholds the Lord. The distinct feature of the Bethel account is the paucity of theophanic
imagery. Despite the fact that the vision is linked with the celestial realm
(“ladder’s top reaching to heaven”), which is labeled in the story as “the
awesome place,” “the house of God,” and “the gate of heaven,” the narrative does
not offer any descriptions of God’s celestial court or his appearance. Instead
we have the audible revelation of God, his lengthy address to Jacob with
promises and blessings.

God appears
again to Jacob in Genesis 32. While the narrative stresses the importance of the
vision of God (the account claims that Jacob “saw God face to face” and even
called the place of wrestling Peniel/Penuel - “The Face of God”), it focuses its
description on Jacob’s wrestling with
God rather than his seeing of
God.

The reference
to the motif of God’s Face (which plays an important role in a number of
biblical theophanic accounts)[1]
and to Jacob’s seeing of God “face to face” could however indicate that the
authors or editors of Jacob’s account might be cognizant of the broader
anthropomorphic theophanic debates in which the motif of God’s Face[2]played an important role. In order to
clarify these theophanic developments, which can shed further light on the
background of Jacob’s biblical story, the current research must turn to other
materials associated with Jacob’s traditions where his visionary accounts have a
more elaborated form. Such materials include the Ladder of Jacob,[3]
a Jewish pseudepigraphon, which has survived in its Slavonic translation.

The
Slavonic Account of Jacob’s Vision

The materials known under the
title the Ladder of Jacob, have been
preserved solely in Slavonic as a part of the so-called Tolkovaja Paleja[4]
(the Explanatory Palaia) where the editors of its various versions reworked[5]
and rearranged them. Despite its long life inside the compendium of
heterogeneous materials and its long history of transmission in Greek and
Slavonic mileux, the pseudepigraphon seems to have preserved several early
traditions that can safely be placed within the Jewish environment of the first
century CE. Scholars propose that the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob is most likely derived
from its Greek variant, which in turn appears to have been translated from
Hebrew or Aramaic.[6]
The content of the work is connected with Jacob’s dream about the ladder and the
interpretation of the vision. In Horace Lund’s translation, the text is divided
into seven chapters.[7]
The first chapter depicts Jacob’s dream in which he sees the ladder and receives
God’s audible revelation about the promised land and blessings upon his
descendants. In the second chapter, a reader encounters Jacob’s lengthy prayer
to God in which he uncovers additional details of his dream and asks God to help
him interpret the dream. In chapter 3, God sends to Jacob the angel Sariel as an
interpreter. In chapter 4, Sariel informs Jacob that his name has been changed
to Israel. Perceptive readers may thus
notice that despite the title of pseudepigraphon, its text is not only confined
to the ladder account but also accommodates features of Jacob’s other visions,
namely, the substitution of his name during the wrestling account. The last
three chapters of the Ladder recount
Sariel’s eschatological interpretations of Jacob’s dream in which he reveals to
the visionary the details of future human history.

The Face
as God’s Kavod

The imagery of the divine/angelic
faces plays a prominent role in the first chapter of Ladder. The text describes Jacob’s dream
in which he sees a twelve step ladder, fixed on the earth, whose top reaches to
heaven with the angels ascending and descending on it. This familiar biblical
motif then is elaborated further and adds some new features.[8]
The story relates that on the ladder Jacob sees twenty-two human faces with
their chests, two of them on each step of the ladder.On the top of the ladder, he also
beholds another human face “carved out of fire”[9]
with its shoulders and arms. In comparison with the previous “faces,” this fiery
“higher” face looks “exceedingly terrifying.” The text portrays God standing
above this “highest” face and calling Jacob by his name. The depiction leaves
the impression that God’s voice[10]
is hidden behind this fiery terrifying “face” as a distinct divine
manifestation, behind which God conveys to Jacob his audible revelation about
the Promised Land and the blessings upon Jacob’s descendants.

This
description of the celestial “Face” as the fiery anthropomorphic extent,[11]
which serves as the embodiment of the deity leads us to another Slavonic text in
which the theme of the fiery Face looms large. This text is 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, a Jewish apocalypse,
the hypothetical date of which (c. first century CE) is in close proximity to
the date of Ladder.2 Enoch 22[12]
contains a theophanic depiction of the Face of the Lord, which emits light and
fire. The important detail that connects this passage with Ladder is that the Face in 2 Enoch is similarly defined as
“fiery”[13]
and “terrifying.”[14]
Another parallel is that in both 2
Enoch and Ladder the Face is
understood as the luminous representation of the deity, behind which He can
convey His audible revelation to visionaries.[15]

It is
noteworthy that the incandescent Face in 2 Enoch, as well as in Ladder, is depicted not as a part of an
angelic or divine “body” but rather as the fiery “forefront” of the whole
anthropomorphic extent.[16]

It has been
previously noted[17]
that this fiery extent, labeled in some biblical and intertestamental texts as
the “Face,” is related to the glorious celestial entity known in theophanic
traditions as God’s Kavod.[18]
In these traditions, the Face often serves to designate the radiant façade of the divine Kavod.[19]
This tendency to equate the Face with the Kavod can be found already in some
biblical accounts, including Exod. 33:18-23, where in response to Moses’ plea to
God to show him his Glory, God
answers that it is impossible for a human being to see God’s face.[20]

The second
chapter of the Ladder, in which the
visionary asks God to interpret the dream, provides several additional important
details about the dream that explicitly identify the fiery Face with God’s Kavod.

In the second
chapter of the Slavonic text, Jacob offers a prayer in which he discloses
further details of his vision of the Face. Ladder 2:7-19 reads:

Lord God of Adam your
creature and Lord God of Abraham and Isaac my fathers and of all who have walked
before you in justice! You who sit firmly on the cherubim and the fiery throne
of glory ... and the many-eyed (ones) just I saw in my dream, holding the
four-faced cherubim, bearing also the many-eyed seraphim, carrying the whole
world under your arm, yet not being borne by anyone; you who have made the skies
firm for the glory of your name, stretching out on two heavenly clouds the
heaven which gleams under you, that beneath it you may cause the sun to course
and conceal it during the night so that it might not seem a god; (you) who made
on them a way for the moon and the stars; and you make the moon wax and wane,
and destine the stars to pass on so that they too might not seem gods. Before
the face of your glory the six-winged seraphim are afraid, and they cover their
feet and faces with their wings, while flying with their other (wings), and they
sing unceasingly a hymn: ... whom I now in sanctifying a new (song) ...
Twelve-topped, twelve-faced, many-named, fiery one! Lightning-eyed holy one!
Holy, Holy, Holy, Yao, Yaova, Yaoil, Yao, Kados, Chavod,
Savaoth....[21]

Several details are important in
this description. Jacob’s prayer reveals that his dream about the Face might
represent the vision of the Throne of God’s Glory. A number of points need to be
noted to support this conclusion:

a.The prayer refers to “his many-eyed
ones,”[22]
alluding to Mynpw)h, the Wheels,
the special class of the Angels of the Throne who are described in Ezek. 1:18 as
the angelic beings “full of eyes.”

b.The text describes the deity as seated
on the fiery Throne of Glory.

c. The vision contains references to the
angelic liturgy and the
Trisagion.

d.The text refers to the fear of the
angelic hosts, who stand in the front of the terrifying fiery “Face” and try to
protect themselves with their wings (“before the face of your glory the
six-winged seraphim are afraid, and they cover their feet and faces with their
wings”). The motif of protection against the harmful brilliance of God’s Throne
is typical to theophanic descriptions of Kavod from the earliest accounts found
in Isa. 6:1-4 to the latest accounts found in 3 Enoch, which relate that “... in (Arabot there are 660 thousands of
myriads of glorious angels, hewn out of flaming fire, standing opposite the
throne of glory. The glorious King covers his face, otherwise the heaven of
(Arabot would burst open in the
middle, because of the glorious brilliance.”[23]

e.The passage also contains a specific
terminology associated with the Throne imagery. It has been mentioned earlier
that the Slavonic text of the Ladder
is possibly based on the Semitic original. Ladder of Jacob 2.18 contains a
non-Slavonic word Chavod[24]
which the translator (H. Lunt) defines as the transliterated Hebrew term Kavod.[25]

f.Finally, the passage explicitly
identifies the fiery Face with God’s glory. Ladder of Jacob 2:15 says that “before
the face of your glory the six-winged seraphim are afraid….” Thus the fiery face
in Ladder 1:6 is not just any face
but the Face of God.

The apparent
similarities between two Slavonic accounts indicate that Ladder, as well as 2 Enoch, seem to represent a single
tradition in which the fiery Face is associated with Kavod.

Additional
evidence to support the view that the fiery Face on the ladder in Ladder represents God’s Kavod can be found in the targumic
accounts of Jacob’s story. Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum
Onqelos give numerous references to the Glory of the Lord in their
description of Jacob’s vision of the ladder.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. 28:13-17
reads:

And, behold, the Glory of
the Lord (hd
)rqy) stood
beside him and said to him, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and
the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your
children” ... And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “In truth the Glory of
the Shekinah ()tnyk#
rqy) of the
Lord dwells in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “How
awesome and glorious is this place! This is not a profane place, but a sanctuary
to the name of the Lord; and this is (a place) suitable for prayer,
corresponding to the gate of heaven, founded beneath the Throne of Glory
()rqy
ysrwk).”[26]

Targum Onqelos[27]
to Gen. 28:13-16 also reflects the same tradition, which depicts Jacob’s
encounter as the vision of the Divine Glory. In both targumic accounts, the
Glory of the Lord seems topologically located in the place which in Ladder is occupied by the Face.

The
Face as Jacob’s Heavenly Counterpart

Scholars have previously noted
that in Ladder the fiery Face not
only embodies God’s Glory but also seems to represent the heavenly counterpart
of Jacob.[28]
They observe that the bust of fire, labeled in Ladder as the Face, can be associated
with the heavenly “image” of Jacob engraved on the Throne of Glory.[29]
The traditions about the heavenly “image” of Jacob are present in several
targumic[30]
texts,[31]
including Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum
Neofiti,[32]
and Fragmentary Targum.[33]

In Targ. Ps.-J. to Gen 28.12 the following
description can be found:

He [Jacob] had a dream, and
behold, a ladder was fixed in the earth with its top reaching toward the heavens
... and on that day they (angels) ascended to the heavens on high, and said,
Come and see Jacob the pious, whose image is fixed (engraved) in the Throne of
Glory ()rqy
ysrwkb )(ybq hylyd Nynwqy)d), and whom you have desired
to see.[34]

A distinctive feature of this
description is that the heavenly counterpart of Jacob, his “image,” is engraved
on a very special celestial entity, on the Throne of Glory. Engraving on the
Throne might indicate an association with the Kavod since the Throne is the central
part of the Kavod imagery – the seat
of the anthropomorphic Glory of the Lord. The image engraved on the Throne might
be an allusion to the face,[35]the fiery face, since it is engraved on
the fiery and glorious Throne of the Glory.

Besides the
tradition of “engraving” on the Throne, some Jewish materials point to an even
more radical identification of Jacob’s image with Kavod. Jarl Fossum’s research[36]demonstrates that in some traditions
about Jacob’s image, his “image” or “likeness” is depicted not simply as engraved on the heavenly Throne, but as
seated upon the Throne of Glory.[37]
Fossum argues that this second tradition is original. Christopher Rowland
proposed that Jacob’s image is “identical with the form of God on the throne of
glory (Ezek. 1:26f.).”[38]
J. Fossum offers additional support for this idea by pointing out that the
Hebrew forms of the Greek loan word ei0kw&n, used in the Targums and Gen. R. 68.12, are synonymous withMlcandtwmd.[39]
He further suggests that “Nynwqy)or )nqwyd can thus be seen to denote a
bodily form, even that of God, that is the Divine Glory.”[40]

The
hypothesis about the identification of Jacob’s image and the Divine Glory
returns us again to the imagery of God’s Kavod with which, as has been shown
earlier, the Face in Ladder and 2 Enoch is closely associated.

Enochic
materials may also correlate the Face of God (divine Kavod) with the heavenly counterpart of
the visionary. In 2 Enoch, the Face
of the Lord seems to play an important role in the description of Enoch’s
heavenly counterpart. 2 Enoch 39:3-6
depicts the patriarch who, during his short trip to the earth, retells to his
children his earlier encounter with the Face. Enoch relates:

You, my children, you see my
face, a human being created just like yourselves; I am one who has seen the face
of the Lord, like iron made burning hot by a fire, emitting sparks. For you gaze
into my eyes, a human being created just like yourselves; but I have gazed into
the eyes of the Lord, like the rays of the shining sun and terrifying the eyes
of a human being. You, my children, you see my right hand beckoning you, a human
being created identical to yourselves; but I have seen the right hand of the
Lord, beckoning me, who fills heaven. You see the extent of my body, the same as
your own; but I have seen the extent of the Lord, without measure and without
analogy, who has no end.[41]

Enoch’s description provides a
series of analogies in which the earthly Enoch compares his face and parts of
his body with the attributes of the Lord’s Face and body. For this
investigation, however, another juxtaposition is most pertinent. It is a
contrast between the two identities of the visionary: the earthly Enoch (“a
human being created just like yourselves”) and his heavenly counterpart (“the
one who has seen the Face of God”). It appears that Enoch tries to describe
himself in two different modes of existence: as a human being who now stands
before his children with a human face and body andas the one who has seen God’s Face in
the celestial realm. These descriptions of two conditions (earthly and
celestial) occur repeatedly in tandem. It is possible that the purpose of
Enoch’s instruction to his children is not to stress the difference between his
human body and the Lord’s body, but to emphasize the distinction between this Enoch, a human being “created just
like yourselves,” and the other
angelic Enoch who has been standing before the Lord’s face. Enoch’s previous
transformation into the glorious one and his initiation into Sar ha-Panim in 2 En. 22.7 support this suggestion.It is unlikely that Enoch somehow
completely abandoned his supra-angelic status and his unique place before the
Face of the Lord granted to him in the previous chapters. An account of Enoch’s
permanent installation can be found in chapter 36 where the Lord tells Enoch,
before his short visit to the earth, that a place has been prepared for him and
that he will be in the front of Lord’s face “from now and forever.”[42]
Finally, in chapter 43,[43]
Enoch introduces himself to his children as the Governor[44]
of the World.[45]This title gives additional proof for
the fact that the permanent installation of Enoch-Metatron in the heavenly
offices, including the office of the Prince of the World (Mlw(h r#), has already taken place. The
importance of this account for the idea of the heavenly counterpart in 2 Enoch is apparent because it points to
the simultaneous existence of Enoch’s angelic double installed in heaven and its
human counterpart, whom God sends periodically on missionary errands. Targumic
and rabbinic Jacob accounts also attest to this view of the heavenly counterpart
when they depict angels beholding Jacob as one who at one and the same time is
installed in heaven and is sleeping on earth.[46]

The idea
about the heavenly counterpart of the visionary found in 2 Enoch is also present in another early
Enochic account. One of the booklets of 1
(Ethiopic) Enoch attests a similar tradition. Scholars have previously
observed[47]
that the Similitudes seem to
entertain the idea of the heavenly twin of a visionary when it identifies Enoch
with the Son of Man.[48]
For a long time, students of the Enochic traditions were puzzled by the fact
that the Son of Man, who in previous chapters of the Similitudes has been distinguished from
Enoch, becomes suddenly identified in 1
Enoch 71 with the patriarch. James VanderKam suggests that this puzzle can
be explained by the Jewish notion, attested in several ancient Jewish texts,
that a creature of flesh and blood could have a heavenly double or
counterpart.[49]
To provide an example, VanderKam points to Jacob’s traditions in which the
patriarch’s “features are engraved on high.”[50]He stresses that this theme of the
visionary’s ignorance of his higher angelic identity is observable, for example,
in Prayer of Joseph.

It is
noteworthy that in the Similitudes,
similarly in 2 Enoch and Ladder,[51]
the theme of the heavenly counterpart seems to conflate with the imagery of
God’s Kavod. 1 Enoch 71:5 reports that Enoch is
brought by Michael to the fiery structure, surrounded by the rivers of living
fire, which he describes as “a something built of crystal stones, and in the
middle of those stones tongues of living fire.”[52]

There is no
doubt that the fiery “structure” in the Similitudes represents the Throne of
Glory, which, in another booklet of 1
Enoch, is also described as the crystal structure issuing streams of fire.[53]
An explicit reference to the Throne of Glory in 1 En. 71:8,[54]
immediately after the description of the fiery “crystal” structure, makes this
clear.

Similarities
between 1 Enoch 71 and 2 Enoch 22 in the depictions of Kavod and Enoch’s transformation near
the Throne of Glory are also apparent.

a.In both accounts (1 En. 71:3-5 and 2 En. 22:6), Enoch is brought to the
Throne by archangel Michael.

b.Angelology of the Throne in 1 Enoch, as in 2 Enoch and Ladder,[55] includes three classes of angelic beings: ophanim,
cherubim and seraphim.

c. Both
Enochic accounts speak about the transformation of the visionary. Enoch’s
metamorphosis in 1 Enoch 71 recalls
the description of the luminous transformation of Enoch into a glorious heavenly
being from 2 En. 22:8-9.

d. In
both cases, the transformation takes place in front of the fiery “structure,” a
possible source of both transformations.

e.Studies in the past have noted that in
both accounts the transformation of the visionary takes place in the context of
the angelic liturgy (2 En.
21:1-22.10; 1 En. 71:11-12).[56]
The same feature is also observable in Ladder 2.15-18.

g.The manner in which Enoch is greeted
near the Throne of Glory in 1 En.
71:14-17 evokes the scene from 2 En.
22:5-6, where the Lord personally greets Enoch. In both accounts we have an
address in which the visionary is informed about his “eternal” status.[58]

These features of both Enochic accounts, entertaining
the idea of the heavenly twin, point to the importance of the vision of the
Kavod in the process of acquiring
knowledge about the heavenly counterparts of the visionaries. It is not
coincidental that in Jacob’s tradition, which also attests the idea of the
heavenly counterpart, the vision of God’s glory also becomes an important
theophanic motif. It is clearly recognizable in the targumic Jacob’s accounts
and the Ladder, where reports about
Jacob’s angelic counterpart are creatively conflated with theophanic traditions
about the vision of God’s Kavod.

Uriel-Sariel-Phanuel

Another prominent trait that
links Jacob’s account in the Ladder
with both above mentioned Enochic accounts (1 En. 71 and 2 En. 22) is the reference to the angel
Sariel, also known in various traditions under the names of Phanuel and Uriel.[59]

In 2 Enoch 22-23, Uriel[60]
plays an important role during Enoch’s initiations near the Throne of Glory.[61]
He instructs Enoch about various subjects of esoteric knowledge in order to
prepare him for various celestial offices, including the office of the Heavenly
Scribe.

1 Enoch 71 also refers to the same angel
and names him Phanuel. In the Similitudes, he occupies an important
place among the four principal angels, namely, the place usually assigned to
Uriel. In fact, the angelic name “Phanuel” might be a title which stresses the
celestial status of Uriel/Sariel[62]
as one of the servants of the divine Panim.[63]

The
title “Phanuel” is reminiscent of the terminology found in various Jacob’s
accounts. In Gen. 32:31, Jacob names the place (Mwqmh) of his wrestling with God as
Peniel (l)ynp) – the Face of God.[64]
Scholars believe that the angelic name Phanuel and the place Peniel are etymologically connected.[65]

Although the
Ladder’s narrative does not directly
refer to the angel named Phanuel, it uses another of his names, Sariel, in
reference to the angelic being, who interprets Jacob’s dream and announces to
him his new angelic status, depicted symbolically in the changing of the
patriarch’s name to Israel. The Ladder of Jacob 2 portrays Jacob asking
God in prayer for help in interpreting the dream. Chapter 3 of the Ladder relates that God responds to
Jacob’s prayer by commanding: “Sariel, leader of those who comfort, you who in
charge of dreams, go and make Jacob understand the meaning of the dream.”The text further depicts the angelophany
of Sariel who comes to the patriarch to inform him about his new angelic name
and status.

This
reference to Sariel/Uriel as the angel who instructs/wrestles with Jacob and
announces to him his new angelic name is documented in several other sources,
including Targum Neofiti and Prayer of Joseph. In Prayer of Joseph, Jacob attests that
“Uriel, the angel of God, came forth and said that ‘I [Jacob-Israel] had
descended to earth and I had tabernacled among men and that I had been called by
the name of Jacob’. He envied me and fought with me and wrestled with me....”[66]

In targumic
and rabbinic accounts, Sariel/Uriel is also depicted as the angel who wrestled
with Jacob and announced him his new angelic name.

Targum Neofiti to Gen. 32.25-31
reads:

And Jacob was left alone;
and the angel Sariel (l)yr#) wrestled with him in the
appearance of a man and he embraced him until the time the dawn arose. When he
saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh
and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh became benumbed in his wrestling with him. And
he said: “Let me go because the rise of the dawn has arrived, and because the
time of the angels on high to praise has arrived, and I am a chief of those who
praise” ()yxb#ml
#yr )n)w).And he said: “I will not let you go
unless you bless me.” And he said to him: “What is your name?” And he said:
“Jacob.” And he said: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel,
because you have claimed superiority with angels from before the Lord and with
men and you have prevailed against them. And Jacob asked and said: “Tell me your
name I pray”; and he said: “Why, now, do you ask my name?” And he blessed him
there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel(l)ynp) because: “I have seen
angels from before the Lord face to face and my life has been spared.”[67]

Scholars have previously noted
that “in the circles represented by the Similitudes of Enoch, Qumran and Neofiti variety of the Palestinian Targum, the
angelic adversary of Jacob was recognized as one of the four celestial princes
and called alternatively Sariel or Phanuel.”[68]
It appears that Ladder also belongs
to the same circles.In Targ. Neof.and Frag. Targ.[69]
to Gen 32:27, Sariel is defined as “the chief of those who give praise” ()yxb#ml #yr). The Ladder seems to allude to this title. In
the Ladder 3:2 Sariel is described as
“stareishino uslazhdaemych”[70]
which can be translated as “the chief of those who give joy.”[71]

It is of
interest to note that in the Ladder,
Sariel/Phanuel imagery seems to be influenced by the Enochic tradition even more
extensively than in the Targums; in the Ladder,the motif of wrestling is completely
absent and is replaced by the depiction of Sariel as the interpreter of dreams.
It seems that Sariel/Uriel in the Ladder assumes the traditional “Enochic”
functions of angelus interpres.[72]

Princes of the Face

In the
Ladder and the Prayer of Joseph, Jacob’s identification
with his heavenly counterpart, the angel Israel,
involves the initiatory encounter with the angel Sariel/Uriel, who in other
texts is also known as Phanuel, the angel ofthe Divine Presence or the Face. The
same state of events is observable in Enochic materials where Uriel serves as a
principal heavenly guide to another prominent visionary who has also acquired
knowledge about his own heavenly counterpart, namely, Enoch/Metatron. In both
traditions, Uriel/Sariel/Phanuel appears as the guide who assists the
visionaries in acquiring or identifying with their new celestial identities.

The
process of establishing twinship with the heavenly counterpart might be
reflected in the initiatory procedure of becoming a Sar ha-Panim, one of the angelic[73]
Princes of the Divine Face or Presence, the prominent celestial office, which is
often described in detail in various apocalyptic and Merkabah accounts. The
installation of a visionary as Sar
ha-Panim seems to correlate with the procedure of identifying a visionary
with his heavenly counterpart. [74]
In 1 Enoch 71, Enoch is transformed
and identified with the Son of Man in front of God’s Throne. In 2 En. 22:6-10, Enoch’s initiation into
one of the Princes of Presence[75]
also takes place in front of the fiery Face of the Lord. This encounter
transforms Enoch into a glorious being. It is important to note that after this
procedure Enoch observes that he had become like one of the glorious ones,
and there was no observable
difference.[76]
The last phrase describes Enoch’s transition to his new identity as “one of the
glorious ones.” This identity might refer to his angelic counterpart. It also
indicates that Enoch’s earthly appearance/face has been radically altered and
that the visionary has now acquired a new “face” which “mirrors” or “doubles”
the Face of the Lord.[77]
The motif of engraving the image of the visionary on the Throne might also serve
as a metaphor for the similarity between the visionary’s face and the Face.
There is no doubt that one of the features which unifies both “faces” is their
luminosity.

2 Enoch’s narrative gives evidence that
Enoch’s face acquired the same qualities of luminosity as the Face of the Lord.
In 2 Enoch 37, the Lord calls one of
his angels to chill the face of Enoch before his return to earth. The angel, who
“appeared frigid,” then chilled Enoch’s face with his icy hands. Immediately
after this procedure, the Lord tells Enoch that if his face had not been chilled
in such a way, no human being would be able to look at his face. This chilling
procedure indicates that Enoch’s metamorphosis near the Face into the Sar ha-Panim involves the
transformation of the visionary’s face into the fiery, perilous entity which now
resembles Kavod. We can find a
detailed description of this process in another “Enochic” text, Sefer Hekhalot, which describes the
transformation of Enoch/Metatron, the Prince of the Divine Presence, into the
fiery creature:

R. Ishmael said: The angel
Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, the glory of highest heaven, said to
me: When the Holy One, blessed be he, took me to serve the throne of glory, the
wheels of the chariot and all needs of the Shekinah, at once my flesh turned to
flame, my sinews to blazing fire, my bones to juniper coals, my eyelashes to
lightning flashes, my eyeballs to fiery torches, the hairs of my head to hot
flames, all my limbs to wings of burning fire, and the substance of my body to
blazing fire.[78]

It is possible that the reference
to the heavenly counterpart of Jacob in the form of his image (engraved) on the
Throne of Glory also implies that Jacob is one of the servants of the Divine
Face. This possibilityis already
hinted at in the biblical account where Jacob is attested as one who saw God
face to face.[79]
Moreover, in some of Jacob’s traditions, he is directly described (in a manner
similar to Enoch/Metatron) as the Prince of the Divine Face. We learn about this
title from the Prayer of Joseph 8,[80]
where Jacob-Israel himself unveils his status as the Sar[81] ha-Panim,[82]
proclaiming that he is “the first minister before the Face of God.”

It is also
not coincidental that the initiation ofJacob into an angelic being involves another servant of the Face, the
angel Sariel whose last name, Phanuel,[83]
reflects his close proximity to the Face of God.As has been mentioned previously, this
initiatory pattern is already observable in the Enochic tradition, where
Sariel/Uriel/Phanuel (along with another angel of the Presence, Michael[84])
actively participates in the initiation of the another prominent servant of the
Divine Face, Enoch/Metatron.

However,
Jacob’s identification with a Sar
ha-Panim seems to be missing one detail that constitutes a distinct feature
of the descriptions of visionaries initiated in this office, that is the
luminous metamorphosis of an adept’s face and body. The Ladder of Jacob and Prayer of Joseph, as well as the
biblical account of Jacob’s vision, are silent about any transformation of
Jacob’s body and his face. This tradition, however, can be found in another
prominent account connected with the Jacob story.[85]
In this important material, the eyes of Jacob, similar to the eyes of the
transformed Metatron, are emitting flashes of lighting.

Conclusion

Finally, it is necessary to
address the question why some theophanic traditions depict angelic beings as
both the servants of the Face and the Face itself. Later Merkabah accounts
categorize Metatron as the Face of God.[86]
The reference to Uriel/Sariel, who is also known as Phanuel (“the Face of God”),
can serve as another example. This ambiguity in the theophanic tradition is also
apparent in the Slavonic Ladder of
Jacob, where the fiery Face can be taken as either God’s Kavod or an enthroned vice-regent
associated with the Face (i.e. the enthroned Jacob-Israel). The difficulty in
discerning between these two luminous entities can be illustrated through a
reference to a late “Enochic” passage (3
En.), describing the enthronement of Metatron at the door of the seventh
palace. From this account we learn that when one infamous visionary encountered
the enthroned Metatron, he took it as something equal to the Chariot. Then,
according to the story, the visionary opened his mouth and uttered: “There are
indeed two powers[87]
in heaven!”[88]

Besides other
things, this account might serve as:

1. an
additional evidence that some heavenly counterparts are indeed “mirrors” of the
Face;

2. an important lesson about the evasive
nature of the celestial “faces”;

and

3.a warning about the possible perils for
those who try to explain what these “faces” might really represent.

[5] Lunt observes that the
seventh chapter of the Ladder is a
later Christian addition juxtaposed to the story by a Slavic (possibly, Russian)
editor of Palaia; see H. G. Lunt,
“Ladder of Jacob,” in OTP, 2.401-11
(404-405).

[8] Ladder of
Jacob
1.3-10 reads: “And behold, a ladder was fixed on the earth, whose top reaches to
heaven. And the top of the ladder was the face as of a man, carved out of fire.
There were twelve steps leading to the top of the ladder, and on each step to
the top there were two human faces, on the right and on the left, twenty-four
faces (or busts) including their chests. And the face in the middle was higher
than all that I saw, the one of fire, including the shoulders and arms,
exceedingly terrifying, more than those twenty-four faces. And while I was still
looking at it, behold, angels of God ascended and descended on it. And God was
standing above its highest face, and he called to me from there, saying, ‘Jacob,
Jacob!’ And I said, ‘Here I am, Lord!’ And he said to me, ‘The land on which you
are sleeping, to you will I give it, and to your seed after you. And I will
multiply your seed....’” Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob,”
407.

[10] James Charlesworth notes
that in the Ladder, as “in some of
other pseudepigrapha, the voice has ceased to be something heard and has become
a hypostatic creature.” See Charlesworth’s comment in Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob,”
406.

[11] I use the term “extent”
since the Ladder specifically
mentions shoulders and arms in its description of the
Face.

[12] 2 En. 22.1-4 (the longer
recension): “I saw the view of the face of the Lord, like iron made burning hot
in a fire and brought out, and it emits sparks and is incandescent. Thus even I
saw the face of the Lord. But the face of the Lord is not to be talked about, it
is so very marvelous and supremely awesome and supremely frightening. And who am
I to give an account of the incomprehensible being of the Lord, and of his face,
so extremely strange and indescribable? And how many are his commands, and his
multiple voice, and the Lord’s throne, supremely great and not made by hands,
and the choir stalls all around him, the cherubim and the seraphim armies, and
their never-silent singing. Who can give an account of his beautiful appearance,
never changing and indescribable, and his great glory? And I fell down flat and
did obeisance to the Lord.” Andersen, “2 Enoch,”
136.

[13] F. Andersen in his
commentary on 2 En. 22 notes the
similarities between the fiery face in 2
Enoch and the face of fire in Ladder. Cf. Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 137, n.
22d.

[18] The early traces of this
tendency to identify Kavod with the
Face within Enochic tradition can be seen already in the Book of the Watchers 14 where the
enthroned Glory is labeled the Face.
Cf. 1 En. 14:21: “And no angel could
enter, and at the appearance of the face (gas9s9) of him who is honored and
praised no (creature of) flesh could look” (M. A. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition
in the Light of the Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments [2 vols; Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1978], 2.99.

[19] It is noteworthy, that
already in the classic Ezekilean description of God’s Glory in Ezek. 1:27, Kavod is described similarly to the
description of the Face in Ladder,
namely, as the fiery bust: “I saw
that from what appeared to be his waist
up he looked like glowing metal, as it full of fire, and that from there
down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded
him.”

[20] See Exod. 33:18-23: “Then
Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory (Kdbk).’ And the Lord said, ‘I
will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name,
the Lord, in your presence... but,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face
(ynp), for no one may see me and
live.’”

[27] “...and here, The Glory of
the Lord (yyd
)rqy) was
standing over him, and He said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your Father Abraham
and the God of Isaac: the on which you sleep I will give to you and to your
offspring ....’The Jacob awoke
from his sleep and said, ‘Truly the Glory of the Lord (yyd
)rqy) dwells in
this place, and I did not know it’” ( The
Targum Onqelos to Genesis [trans. B. Grossfeld; Aramaic Bible, 6;
Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988], 104; M. Aberbach and B. Grossfeld
[eds.], Targum Onkelos to Genesis: A
Critical Analysis Together with an English Translation of the Text [New
York: Ktav, 1982], 171).

[29] “… [in the Ladder] in the fiery bust of the
terrifying man we are probably correct to see the heavenly ‘image’ of Jacob”
(Fossum, The Image of the Invisible
God, 143, n. 30).

[30] The same tradition can be
found in rabbinic texts. Gen. R.
68:12 reads: “...thus it says, Israel in whom I will be glorified
(Isa. xlix, 3); it is thou, [said the angels,] whose features are engraved on
high; they ascended on high and saw his features and they descended below and
found him sleeping.” (Midrash Rabbah
[10 vols.; London: Soncino Press, 1961], 2.626). On Jacob’s image on the Throne
of Glory, see also Gen. R. 78:3;
82:2; Num. R. 4:1; b.Hul. 91b; PRE. 35.

[31] On the traditions about
Jacob’s image engraved on the Throne see E. R. Wolfson, Along the Path: Studies in Kabbalistic Myth,
Symbolism, and Hermeneutics (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press,
1995), 1-62, 111-86.

[32] “And he dreamed, and
behold, a ladder was fixed on the earth and its head reached to the height of
the heavens; and behold, the angels that had accompanied him from the house of
his father ascended to bear good tidings to the angels on high, saying: “Come
and see the pious man whose image is engraved in the throne of Glory, whom you
desired to see.” And behold, the angels from before the Lord ascended and
descended and observed him” (Targum
Neofiti 1: Genesis [trans. M. McNamara; Aramaic Bible, 1A; Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1992], 140).

[33] “... And he dreamt that
there was a ladder set on the ground, whose top reached towards the heavens; and
behold the angels that had accompanied him from his father’s house ascended to
announce to the angels of the heights: ‘Come and see the pious man, whose image
is fixed to the throne of glory….’” (M. L. Klein, The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch
According to Their Extant Sources [2 vols.; AB, 76; Rome: Biblical Institute
Press, 1980], 1.57 and 2.20).

[37] Fossum notes that this
tradition is already observable in some versions of the Fragmentary Targum which do not contain
the verb “engraved” or “fixed” (The Image
of the Invisible God, 141). He also points to a certain baraita (b. Hul.91b) that seems to attests to the same
tradition (139-40).

[43] A similar testimony can
also be found in the passage of 2
Enoch preserved in the Slavonic collection of ethical writings, “The Just
Balance” (Merilo Pravednoe), in which
the existence of 2 Enoch was first
made public. Cf. M. N. Tihomirov, Merilo
Pravednoe po rukopisi XIV veka (Moscow: AN SSSR,
1961).

[44] Andersen translates the
title as “the manager of the arrangements on earth,” see Andersen, “2 Enoch,”
217.

[45] On this title of Enoch and
its connection with the office of the Prince of the World, see Orlov, “Titles of
Enoch-Metatron in 2 Enoch,”82-85.

[46] Targ. Neof. to Gen 28:12: “...and
behold, the angels from before the Lord ascended and descended and observed him
[Jacob]” (Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis,
140); Gen. R. 68.12: “...they
ascended on high and saw his features and they descended below and found him
sleeping” (Midrash Rabbah,
2.626).

[48] It is important to note
that in the Similitudes, the Son of
Man is depicted as seated on the Throne of Glory. See 1 En. 62:5; 69:29.Fossum observes that “in the
‘Similitudes’ the ‘Elect One’ or ‘Son of Man’ who identified as the patriarch
Enoch, is enthroned upon the ‘throne of glory.’ If ‘glory’ does not qualify the
throne but its occupant, Enoch is actually identified with the Glory of God.”
Fossum further concludes that “...the ‘Similitudes of Enoch’ present an early
parallel to the targumic description of Jacob being seated upon the ‘throne of
glory’” (The Image of the Invisible
God), 145.

[51] A notable detail in the
description is that during his ascension Enoch, in a manner similar to Jacob’s
vision of the ladder, sees the angelic “movements” and the angelic “faces.” In
1 En. 71:1 he reports about“...the sons of the holy angels treading
upon flames of fire, and their garments (were) white, and their clothing, and
the light of their face (was) like snow” (Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch,
2.165).

[53] In the Book of the Watchers 14:18-19 the Throne
of Glory is also described as a crystal structure surrounded of the rivers of
fire. The reference to “crystal” structure also recalls the depiction of the
Throne in Ezek. 1.26, where it is described as a throne of sapphire
(ryps).

[54]1 En. 71:7: “And round about
(were) the Seraphim, and the Cherubim, and the Ophannim; these are they who do
not sleep, but keep watch over the throne of his glory” (Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch,
2.166).

[55] The Ladder also refers to three classes of
angels, ophanim (many-eyed ones), cherubim and seraphim, right after the remark
about the Throne: “...the fiery Throne of Glory ... and the many-eyed (ones)
just I saw in my dream, holding the four-faced cherubim, bearing also the
many-eyed seraphim” (Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob,” 408).

[58] 1 En. 71:14-15: “You are the Son
of Man who was born to righteousness, and righteousness remains over you...and
so you will have it for ever and for ever and ever” (Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 2.166-67);
2 En. 22:5-6: “Be brave, Enoch! Don’t
be frightened! Stand up, and stand in front of my face forever” (Andersen, “2 Enoch,”
138-39).

[61] The beginning of this
tradition can be found in the Book of
Heavenly Luminaries (1 En. 74:2),
where Enoch writes the instructions of the angel Uriel regarding the secrets of
heavenly bodies and their movements. See Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch,
2.173.

[62] Vermes observes that at
Qumran, “Sariel becomes one of the four chief
angels, replacing Uriel, the traditional fourth archangel in the Greek Enoch and
midrashic literature ... He also appears in an Aramaic fragment of 4Q Enoch 9.1”
(Vermes, “The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on Jewish Studies,”
13).

[63] Hekhalot
Rabbati (Synopse §108) refers to the angel
Suria/Suriel as the Prince of the Face: Mynph
r# l)yrws/)yrws.Cf. Schäfer,
with Schlüter and von Mutius, Synopse zur
Hekhalot-Literatur, 52. On the identification of Sariel with the Prince of
the Presence, see Odeberg, 3 Enoch,
99-100; Smith, “Prayer of Joseph,” 709.

[64] The connection between the
terms God’s Face (l)ynp) and the Place
(Mwqmh) in Gen. 32:31 is
important. In later theophanic contexts the term Mwqmh is closely associated with
the Kavod imagery. This tradition can
be found, for example, in 3 En. 45:1;
47:1; 48D:8. 3 Enoch also uses an
expression “the Curtain (pargod) of
the Place” in reference to the celestial veil, which shields the angelic hosts
from the harmful luminescence of the Kavod.

[65] G. Vermes suggests that the
angelic name Phanuel “is depended on the Peniel/Penuel of Genesis 32.” Cf.
Vermes, “The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on
Jewish Studies,” 13.Smith supports
Vermes’ position. In his opinion, “it is most likely that the name Phanuel is to
be derived from the place name Peniel/Penuel (the face of God) in Genesis 32:30,
and therefore may be related to the title ‘a man seeing God’” (Smith, “Prayer of
Joseph,” 709). See also S. Olyan, who argues
that “the angel Penuel was either derived from texts such Exod. 13:14-15 and
Deut. 4:37, where the divine presence is given figurative treatment, or it
emerged from the exegesis of Gen. 32:25-33” (Olyan, A Thousand Thousands Served Him,
108-109).

[73] For a complete discussion
about angels as the heavenly counterparts of humans, see De Conick, Seek to See Him,
148-57.

[74] The reference to the angels
of the Presence as the heavenly counterparts of humans is not confined solely to
the Jewish pseudepigrapha.April De
Conick’s research refers to several important Christian passages in which angels
of the Presence/the Face serve as heavenly counterparts of humans; see De
Conick, Seek to See Him,153-54. One of such traditions is
reflected in Mt.18:10: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones;
for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father
who is in heaven.”

[75] On Enoch’s role as the
Prince of the Presence in 2 Enoch,
see Orlov, “Titles of Enoch-Metatron in 2
Enoch,” 74-75.

[77] A visionary, therefore,
becomes a reflection or even a “representation” of the Face/Kavod, a sort of its vice-regent.
Christopher Morray-Jones observes that “there is evidence, then, of the early
existence of a tradition concerning the ascent to heaven of an exceptionally
righteous man who beholds the vision of the divine Kabod upon Merkabah, is transformed into
an angelic being and enthroned as celestial vice-regent, thereby becoming
identified with the Name-bearing angel who either is or is closely associated
with the Kabod itself and functions
as a second, intermediary power in heaven” (C. R. A. Morray-Jones,
“Transformation Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition,” JJS 43 [1992]
10-11).

[80] The tradition about Jacob
as the Prince of Presence seems to be
also reflected in Targ. Onq. to Gen.
32:29: “Whereupon, he said, ‘No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but
rather Israel; for your are a prince before the Lord and among men;
therefore have you prevailed’” (The
Targum Onqelos to Genesis, 116).

[81] Vermes notices that Targum Neofiti explains the etymology of
Israel from rr# (“to rule, to act as a
prince”); see Vermes, “The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on Jewish Studies,”
13.

[83] The fact that
Sariel/Uriel/Phanuel is known under several names might indicate that this angel
also serves as a heavenly counterpart in the manner similar to other servants of
the Face such as Jacob-Israel, Enoch/Metatron, and possibly Melchizedek/Michael.
On the identification of Michael with Melchizedek, see J. R. Davila,
“Melchizedek, Michael, and War in Heaven,” in SBLSP 35 (1996), 259-72; D. D. Hannah,
Michael and Christ: Michael Traditions
and Angel Christology in Early Christianity (WUNT, 2/109; Tübingen:
Mohr/Siebeck, 1999), 70-74.

[84] Olyan refers to Rashi’s
passage which identifies “the ‘angel of his presence’ of Isa. 63:9 with Michael,
the Prince of Presence” (Olyan, A
Thousand Thousands Served Him, 108).

[85] The beginning of the second
half of Joseph and Aseneth gives a
description of Joseph and Aseneth visiting Jacob. Jos. and Asen. 22:7-8 says that when
Aseneth saw Jacob, she “was amazed at his beauty... his eyes (were) flashing and
darting (flashes of) lighting, and his sinews and his shoulders and his arms
were like (those) of an angel, and his thighs and his calves and his feet like
(those) of a giant. And Jacob was like a man who had wrestled with God. And
Aseneth saw him and was amazed, and prostrated herself before him face down to
the ground” (C. Burchard, “Joseph and Aseneth,” in OTP,2.177-247
[238]).

[86] For the identification of
Metatron with the Face, see De Conick, “Heavenly Temple Traditions and
Valentinian Worship,” 329; D. J. Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot (TSAJ, 16;
Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1988), 424-425. Morray-Jones notes that in the Merkabah
texts Metatron “in some sense embodies, the Kabod.” Morray-Jones, “Transformation
Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition,” 9.

[87] On “two powers in heaven,”
see Alan Segal’s pioneering research in his Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports
about Christianity and Gnosticism (SJLA, 25; Leiden: Brill,
1977).